Australian All Schools Athletics Iconic Moments

The Australian All Schools Championships have long served as a key opportunity for the nation’s best school-aged athletes to demonstrate their talent, with many of Australia’s current and past stars showing raw potential at the annual competition and soon fulfilling their dreams.

While not all elite athletes were fit and firing in the junior ranks, we take a look at some of the names who have impressed in recent years ahead of the 2024 Australian All Schools Championships in Brisbane from December 6-8. 

Jack Hale vs Rohan Browning – Adelaide 2014

There is no disputing that the 100m is the blue riband event, and junior showdowns don’t come much better than the rivalry between Jack Hale and Rohan Browning in 2014.

Entering the bout as the Australian Under 18 record holder, Hale was the talk of the town. The Tasmanian was winning every race on the track and almost every long jump competition, but he had a new challenger in the form of Browning.

Browning had done enough to suggest that he could come close to Hale’s crown, and as the decision was made to reverse the final and utilise the tailwind, the fastest 17-year-olds in Australia got even faster.

Leading for almost 80m, Browning was valiant in his bid for glory, with Hale edging out the New South Wales junior to win in a time of 10.13 (+3.4) to Browning’s 10.18 – readings that delighted the crowd and TV camera crews alike and injected a newfound hope that the nation had its next sprinter.

While still rivals, the pair became teammates on two Commonwealth Games relay teams, with Browning qualifying for 2021's Olympic semi-final and the 2022 Commonwealth Games final where he finished in sixth place – along with three World Championships appearances.

Browning holds the ascendency in the personal best stakes with his 10.01 to Hale’s 10.12, with both men still gunning to be the first man to send Australia back under the 10-second barrier.

Browning’s coach, Andrew Murphy, still holds the Under 18 Triple Jump record with his 15.56m effort from 1986.  

Eleanor Patterson – Townsville 2013 

Olympic bronze medallist and 2022 world champion Eleanor Patterson first appeared at the Australian All Schools Championships over 10 years earlier, clinching the Under 18 national schools title when clearing 1.87m in Hobart as a 16-year-old.

Hailing from Leongatha, the prodigious talent soon begun harnessing her powers which translated to the 2013 World Youth title in Ukraine with a 1.88m clearance, and then came the 2013 Australian All Schools Championships in Townsville – a performance etched in memories and record books.

The 17-year-old piled on eight centimetres to her personal best to soar over 1.96m when cruising to victory, rewriting the record books with an equal Under 18 world record and stamping her presence as Australia’s best ever teenage high jumper with Under 18 and Under 20 national records.

The leap qualified Patterson for the 2014 Commonwealth Games, where at 18-years-old she became the Commonwealth champion less than eight months after her historic schools performance in Townsville.

The high jumper proceeded to take a break from the sport before returning under the guidance of Alex Stewart to win Olympic bronze in 2024 and the 2022 world title, also claiming silver at the World Indoor Championships and Commonwealth Games.

Matthew Denny – Hobart 2012 / Townsville 2013

Before specialising in the discus, Toowoomba Grammar’s Matt Denny was simply good at throwing things – demonstrated by his six consecutive Australian All Schools titles from 2012-2013.

Competing in the Under 18 age group as a 16-year-old in 2012, Denny outclassed his competitors when winning the discus throw 1.5kg (64.54m), shot put (18.73m) and hammer throw 5kg (74.64m) – setting two Australian All Schools records (Discus/Hammer) as a bottom-age athlete en route to the treble.

Denny returned in 2013 to better his marks in all three events after winning the World Youth Discus title and claiming bronze in the hammer throw in Ukraine, touching down in Hobart to throw 65.46m in the discus, 19.33m in the shot put and 77.39m in the hammer throw – defending all three of his titles and improving his two records from the previous year.

The performances set Denny up for the 2014 World Junior Championships in Oregon where he finished in fourth place of the discus while also competing in the hammer throw, before his senior breakthrough came with an Olympic berth in the discus in Rio. Two Commonwealth Games titles later, with an Olympic fourth place and three World Championships top-six finishes, Denny hit the major medals with Olympic bronze in Paris. 

Gout Gout – Adelaide 2022

Already one of the championships’ most anticipated names at just 14-years-old, Gout Gout stamped his arrival at the 2022 Australian All Schools Athletics Championships in Adelaide where he would break the Australian Under 16 record over 200m twice in one day.

Rolling out the most casual of 21.15 (+1.8) showings in the heats before doubling down with a 21.14 (-0.1) reading in the final, the fresh-faced teenager marked himself as name to remember – also winning the Under 16 100m in 10.70 (+0.1).

Gout would use the launchpad to propel himself to World Under 20 Championships silver in the 200m since, and recently set a stunning new Australian Under 20 record of 20.29-seconds and the fourth fastest Under 18 time in world history – all while remaining eligible for two more Australian All Schools Athletics Championships.

The 16-year-old has punched his ticket to the 2024 Championships on home soil in Brisbane from December 6-8.

Steve Solomon – Melbourne 2010

Steve Solomon has been on Australian teams for over a decade since his Olympic debut as an 18-year-old, making the final of the 400m at London 2012 to establish himself as an serious talent.

Two years earlier in 2010, Solomon clocked a scorching 46.44 to obliterate the field over 400m and claim the Under 18 Australian All Schools title as a 17-year-old. The time was a significant personal best for Solomon who had already attended the World Junior Championships in Canada earlier that year, serving as a steppingstone to his 45.58 run at the Australian Championships just months later.

Within nine months, Solomon landed himself at the World Championships in Daegu as a member of Australia’s 4x400m quartet, advancing to the Olympic Games the next year before immersing himself in the NCAA system.

The quarter miler has been one of Australia’s most consistent athletes over the last decade, capped off by his 44.94 personal best in Tokyo which propelled him to eighth on the Australian all-time list.

Izobelle Louison-Roe – Perth 2023

At 17-years-old, Izobelle Louison-Roe is already a World Under 20 Championships silver medallist in the high jump, and those who attended the 2023 Australian All Schools Athletics Championships in Perth may not be overly surprised why.

Donning the New South Wales uniform, Louison-Roe would collect three gold medals and one bronze, headlined by a 1.86m clearance in the high jump and 13.39m (+3.2) reading to win the triple jump.

Adding further marks of 6.06m (+2.9) to claim the long jump and 14.05 (-1.1) for third place in the 100m hurdles, Louison-Roe’s versatility was on full display as she crammed the ambitious feat into the three-day program.

Louison-Roe will compete in the same four events at the 2024 Australian All Schools Athletics Championships.

Jackson Hamilton – Cairns 2018

During the 2018 and 2019 Australian All Schools Championships, Jackson Hamilton put on a throwing masterclass.

The vision impaired athlete was dominant in the Para throws when competing as a T12 athlete and winning the discus and shot put by significant margins, but it was his ability to mix it with the nation’s best able-bodied school athletes that was most impressive.

At the 2018 All Schools Championships, Hamilton claimed silver in the Under 16 Discus, throwing a stunning new personal best of 60.94m to finish behind now World Under 20 representative Etienne Rousseau, and defeating Rousseau’s World Under 20 Championships teammate Darcy Miller who finished fourth.

Hamilton has since made his Paralympic debut in Paris 2024 and competed in the 2023 World Para Athletics Championships. 

Alex Hulley – Hobart 2012

At the 2014 Australian All Schools in Adelaide, Alex Hulley threw the hammer further than any Under 18 Australian woman in history with her 71.14m effort – a mark that still serves as the national and meet record.

Hulley had already shown much promise in Hobart in 2012 when arriving with the Under 16 national record under her belt, proceeding to adjust the meet record to 60.62m. Clinching silver at the Youth Olympic Games in 2014 before making the trip to Adelaide for the national All Schools carnival, Hulley’s massive national record of 71.14m laid the foundations for her World Under 20 silver medal in 2016.

The hammer thrower also won silver at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in 2018, making a strong comeback in 2022 when qualifying for the World Championships and finishing in sixth of the Commonwealth Games final.

Riley Day – Canberra 2016

Many will remember a young Riley Day first emerging on the scene alongside Usain Bolt at 2017’s Nitro Athletics in Melbourne, but the Beaudesert product showed an abundance of talent at the 2016 Australian All Schools Championships.

At 16-years-old, the Queenslander took full advantage of blustery conditions in Canberra when roaring to the sprint double in times of 11.36 (+4.0) and 23.52 (+3.2), stamping her mark as one of Australia’s brightest young prospects.

Just eight months later, Day had built on the momentum of her All Schools performances and her gold and silver medals in the 200m and 100m respectively at the Commonwealth Youth Games to book her ticket to the 2017 World Championships in London as a 17-year-old – earning a lane in the 200m where she ran a time of 23.77 (+0.5).

Day has since become an Olympic and Commonwealth Games semi-finalist, and the eighth fastest Australian woman in history over 200m with her personal best of 22.56.

By Lachlan Moorhouse and David Tarbotton, Athletics Australia
Posted: 14/11/2022, Updated 6/11/2024